The 2018 All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship was the 55th and last staging of the

All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (G ...

since its establishment by the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

in 1964. The championship began on 7 May 2018 and ended on 26 August 2018.

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

were the defending champions, however, they were defeated by

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

in the Munster semi-final. On 26 August 2018, Tipperary won the championship following a 3-13 to 1-16 defeat of

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

in the All-Ireland final. This was their 10th All-Ireland title overall and their first in eight championship seasons. They were the first team ever to win the All-Ireland title after being defeated in the Munster Championship.

Format change

Central Council motions to alter the format of the championship were endorsed by the

's Special Congress on 30 September 2017. The proposal to allow

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

teams as agreed by the

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

and Ulster Councils into the Leinster Championship was backed by 72% of delegates. The original recommendation would have ended All-Ireland semi-finals as the Munster winners were set to face off against the Leinster winners from 2018 onwards.

argued that the All-Ireland semi-finals should be retained with the Munster champions taking on the runners-up in Leinster and vice versa. Their idea was endorsed by 78% of delegates. This was the final year of the under-21 championship as the GAA Congress voted on 24 February 2018 to change to an under-20 championship in 2019.

Team summaries

Leinster Under-21 Hurling Championship The Leinster GAA Hurling All-Ireland Under-20 Championship known simply as the Leinster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the high ...

Playoff Round 1 Playoff Round 2 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Munster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-co ...

Quarter-final Semi-finals Final

All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (G ...

All-Ireland Semi-Finals

All-Ireland Final

Championship statistics

Top scorers

;Top scorers overall ;Top scorers in a single game

Miscellaneous

* Cork won the Munster title for the first time since 2007. * Cork qualified for the All-Ireland final for the first time since 1998. * Tipperary became the first team to be beaten in the provincial championship and still qualify for the All-Ireland final.

Awards

2018 Bord Gáis Energy Team of the Year was announced on 17 October. *1 Ger Collins (Cork) *2 Killian O’Dwyer (Tipperary) *3 Brian McGrath (Tipperary) *4 Niall O’Leary (Cork) *5 Fintan Burke (Galway) *6 Robert Byrne (Tipperary) *7 Billy Hennessy (Cork) *8 Mark Coleman (Cork) *9 Ger Browne (Tipperary) *10 Robbie O’Flynn (Cork) *11 Rory O’Connor (Wexford) *12 Cianan Fahy (Galway) *13 Jake Morris (Tipperary) *14 Tim O’Mahony (Cork) *15 Seamus Casey (Wexford)

References

{{All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship Under-21 All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship